The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-22
A GOOD STORY OF THE PRESENT
DAY
Two Ca ses in Which Crcumstantial
Evidence Yves Untrustworthy.
From the Nety York Sllt.

often been asked if ! believed in the virtue
of circumstantial evidence. In every in
stance have replied in the affirmative.
While the professions may make anan hard
hearted and anxious to convict, it is never
.heless a certain feet That a complete chain
of circumstantial evidence against a crimi-
nal will settle his case sooner than half a
dozen respectable witnesses. Lawyers can
browbeat and confuse witnesses, and the
veracity of a witness can be slurred or i'm
peached, but when you strike against cir
cumstance it is not so easy to explain it
away. have been an interested party in
two cases where circumstantial evidence
convicted the wrong persons, but still, if on
a iury where circumstances were against
the prisoner, / should not hesitate to weigh
everything against him.
Many years ago, when | was a young
man of Is, | ran away from my uncle, to
whom | was apprenticed. He had a farm
near Liverpool, Medina county, Ohio, and
he was man who had not one jot of pity
for or mercy on man or animal His wife
lived in mortal fear of him, and a look from
him would make his children tremble. Our
family lived a hundred miles away, and we
knew little or nothing of Uncle Jabez. He
came out on 4 VISIT seemed to take liking
to me- and he gave my father 500 to APP
prentice ME for three years. | liked farm
work. and as Uncle Jabez was on
his good behavior while visiting US,
| was by no means opposed to the
arrangement. No sooner had we arrived
at his home than he became tyrant and
slave drivers ] was overworked, half fed,
scolded, and maltreated, and one night,
after the promise of good licking" in the
morning, | tied up my few personal effects
dropped from my chamber window, and set
out for Cleveland Uncle Jahez was a man
who would demand his pound of flesh and
more If | returned home he would follow
on and make me captive. As soon as he
missed me he would raise great hue and
cry over the county, and felt that my only
safe course was to reach some large city and
lose myself in the mass
The farm was twenty-five miles from
Cleveland I could have walked the dis
lance in seven hours, as it was a cool au
tumn night, and the roads were good, but
for the first ten miles did not dare use the
highway. Teams were coming and going
and farmers moving about, and wanted to
cover my tracks from Uncle Jabez. With
the difficulties i'll my path | did not enter
Cleveland until about O'Clock next morn.
ing had not yet reached the business
portion, and was walking in the middle of
The street, country fashion, when l made a
rich find. In the dust lay three diamond
rings, two ladies' watch chains, and several
charms and lockets. They were scat
tered about as if they had fallen
from some vehicle passing over the
road / picked them up, OF course, and
there being no one near me | continued on
my way. | had never found anything of
value in my life before, and l did not know
exactly how to proceed l knew, of course,
that had no right to tho property, nor did
have the remotest intention of converting
it to my use. The trouble was that did
not know exactly what course to take, being
but a young. green boy. At home | would
have went to my father or a neighbor, but
under present circumstances | was puzzled.
had heard Of policemen, but never saw
one. finally made up my mind to accost
the first one met and ask him what to do
About four squares beyond where I had
found the jewelry | stopped at German
grocery to get drink of water. There
was a boy about IA years old in the store,
and he told me to go around the side way
to penstock. / was drinking when a dog
rushed at me and was so determined to bite
me that had to keep him Off with my feet.
The German and his wife rushed out and
attacked me, and as | got out of the gate
policeman came up and seized me. There
had been row enough to collect quite
crowd, and all were against me. The
officer asked who ! was, where | came from,
and where | was going. If | had returned
him prompt answers he might have let me
90, but l did not dare tell him that | was a
runaway for fear he would return me to
Uncle Jabez. l therefore refused to an
swer him, and he naturally concluded | was
a suspicious character, and took me to the
station. AS was registered they searched
me, and when the jewelry came to light
there was great establishment and rejoic-
ing, and the charge of grand larceny was
at once entered against me.
On the night previous jewelry store on
Superior street had been robbed of a large
amount of iewelry, and the robbers had got
away leaving no clew for the detectives.
This was some of the plumber | told them
where | found it, but as | would not tell
them who l was, or anything about myself,
my find was declared too thin. Under the
same circumstances to-day would do just
as the officers did then They regarded my
Ereenness as assumed for the occasion and
the newspapers put me down as one of the
shaIpest and shrewdest thieves in the
country. Every inducement was held out
to me to give away my confederates, who
were supposed to be older men and tougher
characters, and my inability to do it was
laid to shrewdness and nerve. The only
lame point with the detectives was the fact
that | was on my way into the city when
captured, and that | was showing myself
openly and boldly. 1t was hard to believe
that a robber would hang about town with
his pockets full of plumber, but they got
over this by saying it was shrewd move
on my part to throw them off the scent.
Had | acknowledged my identity, Uncle
Jabez would have come on to defend and
clear me, but would have also taken me
back and thrashed me within an inch of my
life. | dreaded him more than State prison,
and, therefore, when the trial came on
had nothing to say, and was sentenced to
State prison for three years. ! was glad of
it. / would be Of age when | came out,
and as no one would hear of me in the in
terval, | would have nothing to fear from
my tyrant of an uncle.
The fact that | served only four months
of my sentence was due to the efforts of one
old detective in another case. | had for
gotten to tell you that the jeweler and two
of his clerks had fully identified" Inc as "a
person who had been in the store several
times just previous to the robbery" The
proprietor swore that he sold me ring fer
81, and one of the clerks testified on tho
stand that | stood for half an hour and bar
tered with him about silver watch.
Then you positively swear he is the per-
SOM asked my counsel in each case
Il do was the decided answer.
| could have shown that was twenty
five miles away at the time, and that | had
never stepped foot in Cleveland before the
morning of my arrest, but for reasons
which have stated, / made no effort in my
own defense | went off to prison with a